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On March 31 2011 13:07 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On March 31 2011 11:04 Selith wrote:Source: http://www.playxp.com/sc2/news/view.php?article_id=2719561GomTV, the domestic e-sports / broadcasting partner to Blizzard Entertainment, has announced that they are relinquishing their exclusive tournament operation / broadcasting rights to StarCraft: Brood War back to Blizzard Entertainment. This decision is seen as a way to smooth over the current courtroom issues regarding IP rights negotiation revolving around StarCraft tournament operation as well as its broadcasting. There is also the issue of inability to find a compromise between GomTV and the existing game broadcasting companies. As a result, GomTV decided to allow the original IP rights holder to decide for themselves what to do with the rights issue. GomTV's representative, Bae In-Sik, has announced this decision to Blizzard Entertainment's CEO, Mike Morhaime, and he has accepted this quickly -- leading up to a fast announcement. Now, all IP rights related lawsuits will be processed and dealt by Blizzard Entertainment alone. In addition, all licensing deals relating to StarCraft in South Korea will be dealt directly with Blizzard Entertainment. The tournament/broadcasting rights to StarCraft II, WarCraft III, and World of WarCraft still remains with GomTV. GomTV's Bae In-Sik said, "We tried our best to get the IP rights of Blizzard games acknowledged since last year, but with lawsuits and other problems, we could not resolve this problem. Therefore, with the full understandings from Blizzard, we have decided to return our exclusive rights to StarCraft: Brood War. GomTV will now only focus on GSL, and we hope that both StarCraft leagues and GSL will be very successful." Blizzard Entertainment's CEO, Mike Morhaime stated, "We respect GomTV's decision, and we are thankful for all the effort GomTV put into growing e-sports. We will continue to work with GomTV to support their effort with GSL." Hell, it's about time.Does this mean we can see a settlement soon? Only time will tell. The next trial date is May 13th, so it will probably take a bit more time. Then again, court cases are notorious for moving at a snail's pace, so I wouldn't count in an immediate settlement.
BTW, in this case, would GOMtv and Gretech be treated as the same company?
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There won't be a settlement soon. Gretech/GOM is doing the smart thing by taking themselves out of the witch hunt. I don't expect this case to be resolved for another year and a half at least.
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On March 31 2011 11:23 Milkis wrote:Obvious move. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=202467Show nested quote +Furthermore they pointed out that despite Blizzard giving exclusive rights to Gretech, Blizzard has both sued the broadcasting stations while also interfered with the negotiations and claimed that this was an abuse of their rights. OGN/MBC's lawyer questioned if Gretech did have an exclusive right to the game and ordered that only Gretech or Blizzard (and not both) be present in the courtroom and negotiations in the future.
That's what came to my mind first as well. I don't think Gom was like "welp, I guess you can have the rights back" so much as it's a new strategy to get the BW scene shut down since Gom seems incapable of unwilling to enforce the rights themselves. Here's hoping they fail
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Seems like having exclusive rights to SCBW is as much a liability as an asset. Should KeSPa step out of line to provide popular, entertaining content to fans (that also view your GOMTV shows), you have to be the one to put legal money into squashing it.
If we get really lucky, Blizzard will make a similar calculus and we can start the damn OSL.
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On March 31 2011 13:37 akomatic wrote: Seems like having exclusive rights to SCBW is as much a liability as an asset. Should KeSPa step out of line to provide popular, entertaining content to fans (that also view your GOMTV shows), you have to be the one to put legal money into squashing it.
If we get really lucky, Blizzard will make a similar calculus and we can start the damn OSL.
for your information osl is kicking off already so why the hell do we need any confirmation from blizzard to start osl ?
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Smart move by GomTV imo. It's best to just get out of this IP rights mess and keep their hands as clean as they can.
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Bisutopia19152 Posts
At least there was progress in one direction. As long as BW lives on I'm happy.
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this actually helps blizzard in the ongoing case.. eliminating one more point of ambiguity that could be used against them..
pretty sure it was blizzard behind this decision.. anyway it doesnt make much of a difference in the current scheme of things..
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Netherlands45349 Posts
ugh, I was hopefull that the case would perhaps reach a settlement, I was dissapointed :<
lol @ Grobyc, I heard you love GomTV .
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On March 31 2011 14:19 nufcrulz wrote: this actually helps blizzard in the ongoing case.. eliminating one more point of ambiguity that could be used against them..
pretty sure it was blizzard behind this decision.. anyway it doesnt make much of a difference in the current scheme of things..
No, this weakens the anti-broodwar case. Before this round, blizzard had tried to sue KeSPA, but it had a hard time gaining traction due in part because it was a non-Korean entity that was trying to claim ownership. That was why they gave gom the BW rights in the first place, to use them as a proxy for the case.
The overall impact of this is small, but a stronger court case coupled with the fact that BW has one less enemy (which meas people like gorbyc won't be blocked (actual I wonder if he can get unblocked...)) is an overall net positive.
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If you push the anti-BW conspiracy theories aside, (because Blizzard still hasn't filed an injunction) this also means that BW rights are up for negotiation again.
Should OGN want to step up against KeSPA and return to it's state of power before they had to fork over the Proleague, they could easily pump out some $ to partner with Blizzard for BW rights. Considering the recent announcement of amateur leagues, if KeSPA tries to pull players out OGN will still have content to broadcast and players/companies who want to be on TV can still join up without the need of a pro gaming license. OGN can then continue to broadcast WCG freely & possibly work up some leverage to get the/a Proleague under their control.
-my ideal situation-
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Makes sense. Blizzard really didn't have an option to work without KeSPA on BW. Hopefully this solves it.
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On March 31 2011 13:30 swanized wrote:*reads title * *reads thread*  my exact reaction
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ALLEYCAT BLUES49496 Posts
On March 31 2011 14:03 Grobyc wrote: sounds good to me haha
just realized this news is kinda personal for you.
at least the streamers can breathe a sight of relief that they won't be hunted by gom anymore and blizzard doesn't have the time or patience to hunt for re streamers.
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Holy fuck this is awesome!!!
GOM really does care about ESPORTS! I never imagined this type of thing would happen. Blizzard still sucks a lot, but at least they don't have the local corporation in their corner. It is really interesting how this case is so unprecedented. It's like the game vs the corporation in a way. Regardless...
Thank you GOMTV. Thank you so fucking much!
EDIT: I just want to reiterate that I think this is good news. I don't know if it will impact the court case much, but there have been a lot of negatives to Gretech being involved. An American company making an important IP rights case in Korea instead of a Korean company doing it. The closing rift between SC2 via GOM and BW via its competitors... I guess there may be little serious meaning to this, but if there is it seems beneficial and personally it feels really good.
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ALLEYCAT BLUES49496 Posts
On March 31 2011 15:07 xBillehx wrote: If you push the anti-BW conspiracy theories aside, (because Blizzard still hasn't filed an injunction) this also means that BW rights are up for negotiation again.
Should OGN want to step up against KeSPA and return to it's state of power before they had to fork over the Proleague, they could easily pump out some $ to partner with Blizzard for BW rights. Considering the recent announcement of amateur leagues, if KeSPA tries to pull players out OGN will still have content to broadcast and players/companies who want to be on TV can still join up without the need of a pro gaming license. OGN can then continue to broadcast WCG freely & possibly work up some leverage to get the/a Proleague under their control.
-my ideal situation-
I like this idea a lot.But why not have KeSPA themselves bid for the rights for BW now.
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On March 31 2011 15:49 BLinD-RawR wrote:Show nested quote +On March 31 2011 15:07 xBillehx wrote: If you push the anti-BW conspiracy theories aside, (because Blizzard still hasn't filed an injunction) this also means that BW rights are up for negotiation again.
Should OGN want to step up against KeSPA and return to it's state of power before they had to fork over the Proleague, they could easily pump out some $ to partner with Blizzard for BW rights. Considering the recent announcement of amateur leagues, if KeSPA tries to pull players out OGN will still have content to broadcast and players/companies who want to be on TV can still join up without the need of a pro gaming license. OGN can then continue to broadcast WCG freely & possibly work up some leverage to get the/a Proleague under their control.
-my ideal situation- I like this idea a lot.But why not have KeSPA themselves bid for the rights for BW now. Because KeSPA isn't a broadcasting company. The rights are for broadcasting, which is mainly meant for OGN/MBCGame. KeSPA is only going to be behind the players and their sponsors, so broadcasting is mainly out of their control. (I think).
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